Retention of emails: Federal Council wants to learn from Berset’s case

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The case caused quite a stir. It was about an alleged extramarital affair of the recently resigned SP federal councilor Alain Berset (51) and an attempt at blackmail.

In the summer of 2022, the “Tages-Anzeiger” reported that the Ministry of the Interior had announced during a meeting with the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Information (Edöb) in December 2021 that it had closed the correspondence between Berset’s employee Lukas Bruhin and the woman deleted. who tried to blackmail Berset. ‘Weltwoche’ had previously reported email correspondence between Bruhin and the woman.

The Federal Council recognized the need for improvement

The Audit Committee of the Council of States (GPK-S) subsequently investigated the matter – and in a report requested clarification of the relevant provisions in the Public Information and Archiving Act. The gist is that current filing and filing requirements across the federal government are not uniform.

The Federal Council partly shares the conclusions of the GPK-S and wants to investigate individual aspects of the storage and archiving of official documents and public access to these documents, it announced on Friday. The Federal Ministry of Justice and Police (FDJP) is expected to submit proposals to the government about the further approach by the end of 2024.

The cabinet is considering stricter measures

The Federal Council wrote in its statement that transparency and traceability of administrative actions are crucial for the confidence of the population in the authorities. He therefore wants to investigate whether special measures need to be taken to comply with the retention and archiving obligations for federal government employees when their employment with the federal government ends.

According to the Federal Council, this can, for example, be training courses and information sheets that sensitize employees to the storage of business-relevant information. Furthermore, according to the statement, it should be examined whether the retention period for electronic data of departing employees should be extended – taking into account the data and personal protection of the data subjects.

In addition, the Federal Council wants to investigate whether and to what extent documents relating to both the official activities and the private life of the administrative assistant should be made available to the public. In this context, the question also arises whether the situation of magistrates should be specifically taken into account.

The subject of the audit should also be the right of the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Information (Edöb) to inspect federal government documents. The Federal Council wants Edöb’s options for intervention investigated if her right of access is not respected.

However, the Federal Council rejects the GPK-S’s recommendation to investigate the Edöb’s right to issue an order. The Edöb does not fulfill a supervisory function in the field of public law, but rather an arbitration function. According to the Federal Council, the introduction of discretionary powers would therefore contradict the nature of the informal arbitration procedure between the federal government and the public. (SDA)

Source:Blick